Ornamenting and proofing fabrics



' one from the other.

Patented Oct. 7, 1924.

NITED s LEAN-DER J. cAvAnAUeH, or swmvirsco'r'r, MASSACHUSETTS.

' O'RNAMENTING Ann rnoorme rarities.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEANDER J. CAVA- NAUGH, citizen of the United States, and resident of Swampscott, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ornamenting and Proofing Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of the present invention to provided a simple and commerciably practicable method of ornamenting textile fabrics in lieu of the usual dyeing or printing processes, obtaining at the same time, when that is desired, a soil-proofing effect so that the ornamented fabric may be readily cleansed Without injury to the fabric or detriment to the color while at the same time preserving the original softness or .pliability of the fabric, unimpaired by such treatment.

Generally speaking the present invention consists in first impregnating the fabric to be treated with a moistening medium which acts as a fill-er to partially exclude the finish ing material from penetrating into the fibres of the fabric and then app-lying to the fabric, while still, in a damp condition, a liquid carrier or binding medium containing a metallic or bronze powder in suitable proportions, to produce the desired effect, according to the principles hereinafter explained.

.In my former Patent #1377595 I disclosed a process of soil proofing fabrics while preserving unaffected by the treatment, all the original appearance of the untreated fabric, while the present process is intended to provide a way of ornamenting textile fabrics in lieu of dyeing or printing methods, the soil proofing being incidental to the ornamenting and being obtained by selecting out of the materials available for such ornamentation those ingredients and proportions which will produce such effect.

It should also be understood that the present process differs essentially from processes of metallic coating of greased paper or the like to form substitutes for metallic foils since under those processes there is produced a laminated fabric of two or more distinct layers, one of paper and the other of metal, which are capable of separation The present process merely ornaments or modifies the color of the original fabric but does not impose upon it a distinct separable layer or coating, and the coloring or proofing matter is intimately Application filed November 22, 1919. Serial No. 339,993.

and permanently incorporated into the fabric itself.

Suppose for example it is desired to secure a certain color effect on a plain or even on a colored piece of cloth under this process.

The cloth is first subjected to a dampening or moistening treatment such as by running the fabric through a liquid bath and squeezing rollers, spraying, steaming or the or fatty ingredients, if it be desired to give a little more body to the fabric without impairing its pliability or softness, or various oils'thinned out with appropriate thinners or solvents may be used, the object being merely to prevent more than superficial. or slight penetration of the finishing material into the fabric.

I next apply finishing material to color the fabric to the desired shade. For this purpose I select the appropriate shade or color of bronze powder and mix with commercial cellulose paste in the ratio, say of 4 parts of paste to 1 part of bronze powder, and I thenadd say 5 or 6 parts of thinner to 1 part of the bronze-containing paste to thin or dilute the cellulose paste mixture to permit its application to the fabric.

The finishing preparation is then sufficiently thin to permit its being sprayed over the fabric with an atomizer or it may be flowed lightly over the fabric and then scraped off with a knife leaving sufficient adhering to the fibres of the fabric to give the desired effect.

The color'eft'ect may be varied from that of a continuous or solid shade of any desired color of bronze powder to a blended or composite color produced by the blending of the original color of the fabric with that of the bronze powder selected according to the proportion of bronze powder employed and according to the quantity of finishing material applied to the fabric. If the finishing material carries the ratio of bronze powder above mentioned, and is thoroughly flowed over or sprayed over the fabric, a solid color or shade corresponding to that of the bronze powder will be obtained, if flowed more lightly and scraped off more effectively the underlyin color of the fabric will blend with and modify the coloring of the bronze powder. If sprayed but lightly the bronze color will appear as a stippled efieot but in any case the coloring effect will be permanent and will preserve the original pliab-ility of the fabric practically unimpaired.

Instead of a cellulose carrier or binder tohold the bronze powder I may substitute other substances such for example as casein, which when used in the above described ratios and applied in an amount suflicient to reproduce a continuous or solid shade or a composite blend of the fabric color and the bronze will render the material moisture and soil proof so that superficial stain or soiled spots can be readily wiped ofi with a damp cloth without noticeable effect in the appearance of the fabric.

Besides varying the amount of finishing material or dressing applied, variations may be made in the proportions of the mixture itself with similar results. For example the mixture of 1 part bronze powder to 4 of cellulose compound may be thinned with 10 or with 20 or even 30 times its bulk of thinner, the color effect and the proofing effect being correspondingly reduced or lessened.

The color effect may also be diluted by using a smaller ratio of bronze powder to the cellulose say 1 of powder to 10 or 12 of cellulose paste before thinning. It will be understood that the bronze assists in proofing the fabric but that the cellulose is the main proofing agent, hence if the cellulose be very thinly diluted the proofing effect will be diminished, though increasing the bronze powder content at the same time tends to offset this decrease in proofing effect if sufficient bronze be employed to give a nearly continuous color effect.

Where proofing is not desired n0n-pro0fing substitutes such as waterglass or dissolved gums may be used in a similar manner. It should also be noted that as a general rule thinner solutions of the binder should be used on light delicate fabrics such as voile than would ordinarily be applied to heavier fabrics like poplinfor example.

lVhile the bronze powders or as they are commercially known the patent bronze powders will give a large range of coloring effects particularly when applied to fabrics of different selected colors according to the principles above explained, and while it is possible by proper selection of the powders to produce cloths in close imitation of gold and'silver cloth, yet, it will be understood this process is also available for the production of the finest grades of real gold cloth and silver cloth by the substitution of gold and silver powder in lieu of the bronze powders, and that the fabrics thus produced will be superior in texture and permanence or durability to gold and silver cloths as heretofore made besides being less expensive to produce, the gold or silver powder being in such case equivalent to or a substitution for the bronze powder in the process described.

Not only does the metallic powder make possible in production of a wide range of color effects either to modify or completely change the original color of the fabric treated, but it also acts to kill or neutralize the greasy effect or appearance consequent upon the use of an oily or fatty substance for the preliminary moistening of the fabric when such substances are employed.

\Vhat I claim is:

1. The above described improvement in the art of producing artificial fabrics which consists first in impregnating the fibers of the fabric with a filler medium acting to limit the penetration of the finishing material to be thereafter applied, then while said filler still inheres in the fabric applying to said fabric a suitable carrier containing a relatively small admixture of bronze powder.

2. The process of treating fabric to render it soil proof while avoiding a greasy appearance thereof which consists in first treating said fabric with a liquid filler of an oily or fatty nature then applying to the fabric so treated a liquid preparation of waterproofing material containing a relatively small quantity of finely divided non-absorbent mineral particles.

3. The process of treating fabric to render it soil proof while avoiding a greasy appearance thereof which consists in first treating said fabric with a suitable filler tending to limit the penetration into the fiber of the finishing material, then applying to the fabric so treated a liquid solution of cellulose in which is mixed a relatively small quantity of bronze powder.

In witness whereof, I have subscribed the above specification.

LEANDER J. GAVANAJUGH, 

